November 30, 2002|By Lorraine Mirabella | Lorraine Mirabella,SUN STAFF
Shoppers jammed roads and parking lots, lined up outside stores for hours before dawn and mobbed checkouts yesterday to snap up deep discounts on home electronics, toys and apparel.
Hoping to defy predictions of weak holiday sales, retailers heavily promoted to lure the hordes of shoppers that typically make the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the holiday season, the busiest shopping day of the year. The strategy worked - at least for the kickoff day to a frenetic four weeks in which retailers can reap a third of their annual sales and half their profits.
Shoppers lined up outside Arundel Mills at 3 a.m., waiting to buy discounted dolls and games at Kaybee Toys at 5 a.m. Customers with armloads of sweaters and jeans stood a dozen deep at Sears, Roebuck and Co. checkouts in White Marsh, while lines of shoppers buying DVDs, DVD players and televisions snaked around Best Buy in Columbia. Crowds filled the Discovery Channel store in Harborplace, buying Kick Discs - hockey disks that float on air - and remote-controlled Z-Cars.
"It's fun. It's a tradition," said Jan Veader, 47, of Overlea, who started her 16th straight Black Friday at Wal-Mart in White Marsh at 6 a.m., where she grabbed a $24 bicycle for her 3-year-old grandson. "I never even fell asleep last night, I was so keyed up. It's the hunt - and a way to save some money."
Veader and her son, Ricky, 19, were heading to Kmart next, for discounts on 14-karat gold earrings and Martha Stewart towels, then to J.C. Penney Co. for pants.
"It's the only time I like shopping," Ricky Veader said. "It's like a military operation. You have your primary objective and your secondary objective."
In the wake of consumer concern over the economy and potential war, retailers have said they expect to slash prices, step up customer service and offer more one-of-a-kind or private label merchandise to set themselves apart from competitors, and to drive sales.
Although sales did improve in October, they did so after disappointments in August and September at many of the biggest U.S. chains, leaving the outlook uncertain for the holiday season. But retail experts believe consumers will spend if they can be motivated, because disposable income has increased and refinancing has put more money in consumers' pockets.
"I think the sales numbers will be good," said Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation. "Consumers have been coming out of their shells, and consumer confidence is going up."
Video-gaming systems and software, home electronics and apparel are expected to drive sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
"Retailers are going to do whatever it takes, through promotions, to achieve comparable sales to last year's figures," said Marshal Cohen, co-president of NPDFashionworld, a division of NPD Group of Port Washington, N.Y. "The consumer is looking for value; that's the No. 1 influence [over spending]. Retailers will be competitive with each other on price."
In a year with no single hot toy driving consumers to the stores, shoppers are hunting for the best deals - on everything from DVD players to Barbie dolls to color televisions. Many said they have come to equate Black Friday with the best deals of the year.
"I'm still buying for everyone, but I'm trying to get the sales," said Jane Harle, as she ate breakfast in the food court at White Marsh mall after buying sheets and jeans at J.C. Penney.
At White Marsh Mall, shoppers waited hours outside Kaybee Toys, which started its early-bird sale at 5 a.m., while employees let five people at a time in the store. To minimize a crush, employees shopped for customers waiting in line. That suited Marie Mingioni and her daughter, Lisa Vecchioni, both of Perry Hall, fine, as they handed over a list including Barbie paraphernalia and a Lite Brite toy.
"This is good; there would be no other way to do it," said Mingioni. "We all couldn't fit."
Nearby, KaTrina Hunter sat with her head in her hands, worn out from three hours and $800 worth of toy shopping with her aunts for her five cousins. "I'm tired," the Western High School senior said.
At Harborplace and The Gallery, discounts on electronics seemed to attract the most attention. A steady stream of customers flocked to the T-Mobile cellular phone kiosk.
"If it goes like this way all day, it will be a good day," said Jacob Costello, a sales representative.
The day may have been one of the busiest in terms of crowds, but the biggest sales typically come the Saturday before Christmas. Black Friday, which gets its name from its ability to put retailers "in the black," was the season's fifth-busiest shopping day last year, the Council of Shopping Centers said.
Shoppers said Black Friday outings require an organized plan and a good attitude.
Kathy Dennstaedt of Ellicott City, who bought a 27-inch television at Best Buy in Columbia, said she has two Black Friday rules: "Never run and ... don't fight with anyone over anything.
